Cincinnati Bengals safety Shawn Williams was ejected from Sunday's victory over the Indianapolis Colts after an unnecessary roughness hit to the head of quarterback Andrew Luck. Williams isn't sure what he could have done differently.
"If you guys have any suggestions on what I can do to not get a flag and still do my job, then let me know," Williams told reporters Monday, via the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Luck scrambled on a 3rd-and-7 play with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter. While the quarterback was being tackled, Williams flew in and struck Luck in the helmet.
"If you watch him I don't know if he's getting ready to try to run me over," Williams said. "Don't get it twisted. Andrew Luck is like 6-3, 240, 235. He's way bigger than a lot of DBs. I think he was going to dive, but he wasn't going to give himself up and slide. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do."
Williams was the first player ejected this season as the league pushes to protect against helmet-to-helmet hits. The play was ruled an unnecessary roughness penalty, not part of the NFL's new helmet rule.
"I didn't use the crown of my helmet," Williams said. "I didn't use my helmet at all. My helmet might have touched his incidentally. All my contact was with my shoulder and incidentally to his head. I don't know what they want me to do."
Despite disagreeing with the decision, Williams added that he knows the burden is on defensive players to adjust.
"All the onus is on me to understand," he said. "I don't know if they want you to know what Andrew Luck is going to do. I don't know what he's going to do. If it was up to me he should slide and give himself up earlier, but he didn't."
